The Curious Tale of BIGQUINT
When given the prompt of discussing social capital, my supposedly nonconformist mind goes towards a place of disgust. I remember a saying my father used to always tell me, “never mistake popularity for significance,” ever since I heard this, it has shaped my mentality growing up. So when I had to think about someone who had acquired this, I rolled my eyes; I didn’t want to, but then I thought of a character online that brings me happiness. I thought of BIGQUINT INDEED.
If you look at my search bar on YouTube, you’ll see that BIGQUINT searches especially prevalent. He is a music reactionist, he posts simple videos of him listening to rap albums for the first time. He provides reviews at the end of the videos, but they are simple; they lack a lot of musical knowledge that many critics, like theneedledrop, bring to the table. But this simplicity helps create his social capital, he reviews fro the average music listener, someone who just wants to hear music they’ll like, not the most avant garde and experimental music; they want accessible music.
A lot of his videos have millions of views, and he currently has around 250k subscribers. This is a lot of influence. He doesn’t use the medium to promote new music or social commentary, he simply does what we want him to do; make enjoyable videos to the music we like. As soon as I hear an album that I like, I run to his channel to see if he reacted to it yet.
He often dances in his videos, if there are “bangers” or “slappers” on the album he is listening to, he’ll get out of his chair and scream and dance. It really is quite enjoyable. I will find myself waiting for parts of songs that I’ll know will make him excited; anticipation grows until we reach the climax of certain songs.
I remember when my favorite rap album of the past five years came out, Isaiah Rashaad’s Cilvia Demo. I watched his video, and knew that during the song Banana, he would lose his cool. When I watched, he did, and it made me laugh, it got me excited, and most importantly, I enjoyed it. He provides a simple story of how just because you lack substance, and am popular on YouTube, it does not mean you are as cancerous to society as one may think. Sometimes, it’s good to just sit back, not think, and enjoy something that is goofy. Social capital can be powerful, but it doesn’t have to be.
